“I remember that I’m invisible and walk softly so as not awake the sleeping ones. Sometimes it is best not to awaken them; there are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.” ― Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
Invisible Man won the National Book Award in 1953. Read 2015 Finalist Angela Flournoy’s essay about her first encounter with Invisible Man here.
I had not, at the age of eighteen, read a single novel that communicated as much about the tragic and ludicrous function of racism in this country.
#TBT to 1953, the year Ralph Ellison became the first African American to win a National Book Award for the now classic novel Invisible Man. Upon accepting the award, Ellison said “I was to dream of a prose which was flexible and swift as American change is swift, confronting the inequalities and brutalities of our society forthrightly, but yet thrusting forth it’s images of hope, human fraternity, and individual self realization.” Read Ellison’s speech here.
Harvard University sociologist Orlando Patterson with (from left) Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Ralph Ellison, and Ellison’s wife Fanny at the 1991 National Book Awards.
That night, Patterson made history when he became the first African American to win a National Book Award for Nonfiction for his groundbreaking history book, Freedom in the Making of Western Culture.
First edition of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man on display at Penguin Random House’s headquarters. Ellison was the first African American writer to win a National Book Award.
For Banned Books Week, here are some covers National Book Award Winners that are among the most commonly challenged books in the US.
If I were asked in all seriousness just what I considered to be the chief significance of Invisible Man as a fiction, I would reply: Its experimental attitude and its attempt to return to the mood of personal moral responsibility for democracy which typified the best of our nineteenth-century fiction.
The opening line of Ralph Ellison’s acceptance speech for the 1953 National Book Award for his novel Invisible Man.
You can read his full remarks here.
alwaysbringabookwithyou
all-these-paperback-dreams
Barnes and Nobles is gonna start serving food and alcohol.
Everybody’s cracking jokes about how it’s a desperate attempt to stay relevant in the age of Amazon.
But you know what? Props to them. This is exactly what Blockbuster didn’t do. At no point was Blockbuster like “Hey, movie rentals aren’t the lucrative enterprise they once were. Perhaps it’s time we become known for our cheesy garlic bread.”
that’s a fantastic plan, honestly? i would 100% go sit at a bookshop, buy a glass of wine, and pick up the newest biography. 50/50 i’d decide to buy it after a couple chapters, and even if i don’t, that’s still money i spent at B&N!
They could host book clubs with food and drinks where one of the employees shares their experiences with a book of their choice and tries to convince the guests to buy it.
Barnes and noble realizing the only reason people go to brick and mortar stores is for the experience and access to an enjoyable physical space they can socialize in (sure isnt for the price) and capitalizing on that is a stroke of genius and a really refreshing approach to the dilemma of competing with online stores
